Notre Dame's Manti Te'o unimpressive on national stage

Jan. 8, 2013
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Alabama's Eddie Lacy runs past Notre Dame's Manti Te'o in the first half of the BCS National Championship game Monday. Te'o was not a factor in Notre Dame's route at the hands of Alabama. / John Bazemore, AP

by George Schroeder, USA TODAY Sports

by George Schroeder, USA TODAY Sports

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- In the final moments before kickoff Monday, college football's major award winners were honored on the field at Sun Life Stadium. Manti Te'o, who'd carried home a boatload of trophies back in December, was absent.

Nothing much changed once the game started.

Alabama's 42-14 rout in the BCS national championship game came at the expense of Notre Dame's vaunted defense, and its emotional senior leader. As the Crimson Tide running back tandem of Eddie Lacy and T.J. Yeldon pounded away, ripping through big holes opened by Alabama's offensive line, Te'o was essentially a nonfactor.

He'd been back in the locker room during that pregame presentation, but after kickoff, the middle linebacker who was a Heisman finalist and won the Nagurski, Butkus, Lott and - well, it was a lot of trophies - missed tackles and just plain missed his moment. And the subpar performance might impact his NFL Draft prospects.

Te'o has been projected as a potential first-round pick. But Rob Rang, an NFL draft analyst for CBSSports.com, said Te'o's first-half performance, when he struggled to avoid being blocked and, more tellingly, missed several tackles on Lacy and Yeldon, should be troubling to pro scouts.

"In the biggest of big games you have to play well," Rang said at halftime. "The fact he's not has got to be an area of concern for any NFL talent evaluator. You don't get more NFL (offensive) talent than Alabama. You don't get a bigger stage. â?¦ For of player with his hype to not be able to make tackles, it will hurt his draft stock."

Whether that's true remains to be seen. Regardless, the Mormon linebacker from Hawaii will depart Notre Dame with a lasting legacy as a leader of the program's renaissance and, away from the field, an ambassador for not just the football program, but the school.

But it certainly wasn't the performance Te'o had hoped for or expected. In the run-up to the game, he said he was proud to have helped the Irish to an unbeaten regular season, but he wasn't satisfied. He hoped to lead them to their first national championship since 1988. He also said he relished the opportunity to compete against Alabama's powerful offense and its line, which had earned a reputation as perhaps the nation's best.

"That's football at its finest," Te'o said a couple of days before the game. "This is going to be an opportunity that we've been waiting for a long time. As a linebacker, to know that you're going to be run at. ... That's something you look forward to, and we understand obviously what Alabama can do.

"We've seen it. Everybody has seen it."

But the Irish hadn't seen this.

En route to a 28-0 halftime lead, the Crimson Tide rushed for 153 yards on 23 carries. Lacy had 98 yards, Yeldon had 50. Most of their running was between the tackles, into the space Te'o has customarily filled.

Mostly, Te'o was a non-factor.

"They just did what Alabama does," Te'o said afterward. "We had opportunities to make plays, we just didn't capitalize on those opportunities."

Irish coach Brian Kelly said poor tackling was a major factor in the loss.

"Tackling . . . obviously both of those backs are outstanding backs, but we had plenty of opportunities," he said. "We had guys in position to make the plays, but we couldn't make the plays.

"A lot of that has to do with Alabama, and they should get credit for it."